1994 Cavalier LSi C20NE (was C18NZ) Work-horse

[Envoy CDX]

Nice list there. Alot of that is more than doable with your capable hands in the run up to mot prep too. Regardless of which headlight setup you go with Rob, relaying the lights so they have a better power feed will pay dividends in turns out light output so thats a must

Look forward to seeing some progress on this wee beast

[Robsey]

The relaying is for the halo side light bulbs.

A normal side light bulb - type 501 = 1 bulb at 5 watts per side.
Total = 10 watts for both sides.

Halo rings are:-
Two rings per side - Each containing four type 286 bulbs.
= 8 bulbs at 1.2 watts each = 10 watts per side.
Total = 20 watts for both sides.

Therefore double the wattage and double the ampage.
Hence the use of the relay to protect the loom wires.

This may be a good opportunity to convert to DRLs (Daytime running lights).
Or even switchable between ignition live and lighting controlled.

[Envoy CDX]

Ah, my bad. Main lights not on the cards too then?
But yeah, some draw through those piddly wires for side lights :/

[Robsey]

Not anyone's bad.
A one-line item can be interpreted in may ways.
The Halo's can refer to either the side-light rings,
Or
The type of headlamp assembly,

The proper names are obviously Morettes for pre-facelift, and Angel Eyes for facelift.

As for improving light output, only decent bulbs make things acceptable.
Night Breakers were always my bulb of choice, for a crisp, bright view of the road ahead.

With standard bulbs, Angel Eyes are no better than standard headlamps.
They just give a different look to the car.

The Depo lights that I have are quite poor quality.
A bad fit. The indicators don't really line up properly with the headlamp glasses.
And cheap brittle plastic mounting lugs that snap or crack for fun.

FK are far better.
Both FK and Depo are long since out of production.

[Envoy CDX]

Nightbreakers are what I put in the Yaris (at 16quid a pair, they should be good!)

[Robsey]

Boggo standard GE or Ring are £5 a pop, so not a huge increase in cost for decent lighting.
3 quid extra per bulb. - meh.

Dearer if you go to Halfords.

The only shock was a premature Night-Breaker bulb failure on the Vectra-C.
Now I just recycle bulbs from my spare Vectra light units.
(I have a set of Vectra Angel Eyes too)

[ilovedmymantas]

It's nice to see the cav getting an airing, it's looking pretty good considering the inactivity. Looking at the to do list it doesn't seem much is needed for the mot, hopefully nothing too expensive to get you back on the road

[Robsey]

I thought that I would order a battery and fuel can from Euro Car Parts.
So I click on an 063 battery (although an 075 would have been better but more expensive).
And a fuel can.
Enter the discount code on their front screen

Message comes back "Some of your items are excluded from the discount".
Clicking on the 'further info' tab brings up a huge long list of generic items including 'batteries'.

Why advertise an online discount, and then exclude everything in the small print. A total scam if you ask me.

Rant over - lol.

I thought that I would try ECP as they are usually much better pricewise than Halfrauds.
But then I remember ECP don't always have the parts in store when you come to collect them.

UPDATE - Worst case scenario, I can get a decent sized wheelchair battery to get the car going.
It helps to work with powered wheelchairs.
I have done it with the Cavalier before, when a battery has failed and the bank account has been all but empty.

[cavalier1990]

I thought that I would order a battery and fuel can from Euro Car Parts.
So I click on an 063 battery (although an 075 would have been better but more expensive).
And a fuel can.
Enter the discount code on their front screen

Message comes back "Some of your items are excluded from the discount".
Clicking on the 'further info' tab brings up a huge long list of generic items including 'batteries'.

Why advertise an online discount, and then exclude everything in the small print. A total scam if you ask me.

Rant over - lol.

I thought that I would try ECP as they are usually much better pricewise than Halfrauds.
But then I remember ECP don't always have the parts in store when you come to collect them.

UPDATE - Worst case scenario, I can get a decent sized wheelchair battery to get the car going.
It helps to work with powered wheelchairs.
I have done it with the Cavalier before, when a battery has failed and the bank account has been all but empty.

Any way you can improvise to save time/money is a good policy. The wheelchair batteries must have a bit of grunt in them I suppose as they need it. Are they much the same size as car batteries, same connections as the cavy etc? Good to see the cavy back on the scene, it's alwaysa bit of a scunner to see the work ahead but once you start getting into it it doesn't seem so bad. (Unless it's a vauxhall senator with no inner sill or inner wing lol)

Cheers

Andy

[Robsey]

Hi Andy,
Wheelchair batteries have similar capacities to car batteries, but they are more like deep discharge leisure batteries.

I would still use the old-fashioned gel-cell / dri-fit batteries rather than the newer AGM batteries.
AGMs require a lot more continual charging and don't like to be sat without being recharged for very long.

Typical Ah ratings are 38, upto 62 amps for gel-cell.
And upto about 70 on some AGM's

I did use a 38Ah battery on my Cavalier for many months when I was going through a skinflint patch in around 2010 to 2013 ish.

Just for info - gel batteries are still lead acid, but when cooled they congeal to a thick jelly that won't leak.

They are only liquid when warm due to charging.
One hour of rest after charging is enough to allow the batteries to cool back to a gel.
Batteries also work better when cooled - hence the one hour rest.
--------------------------

It will be nice to write about the Cavalier again, rather than the other vehicles in the fleet.

I just hope I can afford to run it.
Petrol isn't much dearer than it was immediately before Covid (March 2020), but both diesel and petrol don't seem to last as long, even though I do fewer miles now than I did back then.
I still did 11k miles last year in the Vectra.

[Robsey]

Tonight I ordered what could potentially be the last repair panel for the Cavalier.
Since the closure of the Carz2 webshop, I have been unable to get a right front reinforcer / jacking point from Klokkerholm.

A fellow-member had enquired previously and mentioned a site in Holland.
I haven't heard back from him, regarding his experience of shopping with them.

Despite this I ordered the part from -
Mm-opelparts.com

https://www.mm-opelparts.com/

It was quite a bit dearer than the left hand part I ordered a couple of years ago. - about £75 all in.

The new part came to -
Approx €91 + €35 shipping.
This equates to approx. £113 all in including currency conversion.
Options are Paypal or bank transfer.

I will let you know if / when the panel arrives.

---------‐-----------

Allowing for silly importation delays, I hope the panel will be here in time for planned repairs towards then end of May, or early June.

In the mean time, I need to give everything (electrical connectors) a good clean and dry.
Plan is to spend a day or two next week going through everything.

It would be nice to fit the catalytic converter and gear linkage whilst I am at it, at some time.

I am just not keen to see what rot has built up over the past 50 months.

[Envoy CDX]

Fingers crossed, not alot rot wise. it'll be good to see it getting some use and final repairs done

[Robsey]

I find it crazy how quick mainland European post is compared to our UK service.

I ordered the right side jacking point pressing from Holland last thing Thursday night (last night).
I got an email tonight to say that it was on its way, and will be delivered to me on Wednesday.
That is crazy... but I am not complaining.

[3cav3]

Ive had quite a few panels from MM opel parts, always arrive promptly and well packed. They usually seem to be genuine GM aswell. The owner also speaks very good English.

[Robsey]

If the jacking-point panel does turn out to be a genuine GM part, I would be tempted to get the left one too.
Depending upon the quality of my Klokkerholm part in comparison.

I will have a quick look-see and compare when the part arrives.

[Robsey]

I have found another potential project / How 2 for the Cavalier.
Omega-B bonnet lifter struts.
I have djgritts original VxON thread about fitting them on my phone...
And I have a set of struts in my shed.
Looks like a modestly easy job to do.


Hmmm, now where is my 6.8mm drill bit and M8 tap set.

[Envoy CDX]

Measure thrice, drill once. I didnt get mine lined up perfectly and it caused a slight twist on the bonnet. It is great for servicing, but they can get in the way if you need to do anything timing / auxiliary belt wise.

But yeah, dooo it.

[Robsey]

As tempting as it is, I thought that I should do the essentials first.

So first the front lights... these were icky green, so I removed the headlamps and indicators to clean them up.

There is a fair bit of crustiness hidden by the lights and grille, but nothing structural.

Lights refitted and the rubber lips fitted correctly (I believe).



This is why you don't buy Depo Angel Eyes.



The plastic is brittle.
This lug had broken off many moons ago.
I presume when the car was being rebuilt after restoration.

There is nothing like pvc tape and a cable tie to stop the light unit from wobbling around.

The sun was quite intense, so I simply washed away four year's worth of sand, muck and moss from the car.



It came up okay.
Not too much corrosion to get in a tiz over.





What is surprising is my car had done a self-imposed dry storage.
No oil in the sump, and no coolant in the header tank.



The car has never been totally leak free on the coolant side, but the lack of oil is a bigger worry.

There is this damp patch, but the surrounding core plugs are all clean and dry - not leaking.



No battery or fuel either, so not much more to do without being able to run the car.

[Envoy CDX]

Hmmm, that is some scary stuff.
Wonder where the oil / coolant is going.

[cavalier1990]

Didn't know carz2 had shut. I ordered the drivers side panel last Year and N/S already been replaced, I also have a spare one kicking about, or bits of one.

Cavy looking ok there Robs, hopefully you get it back in time for a bit of summer cruising (That'll be 2 weeks this Year!). Mine is looking a bit sad (Flat tyre/moss/bird poo) sitting there waiting for it's new front panels to go back on. I'm doing the omega just now to get it mot'd it runs out in a week!

Just noticed my cavy has a big frikkin crack on the drivers side right into the middle of the screen - bugger, add that to the one I added to it on the other side looks like a new screen for me.

Cheers

Andy

[Robsey]

Cheers Andy,
I am anticipating getting the MOT sometime in mid to late June.

Plan is to get it to the garage for a pre-MOT in early June.
This should identify what needs doing.
Then take the Cav up to the unit to get it all sorted.
Then back to the garage for the MOT.

The game plan being to attend VBOA in it, in late July.

--------------------------

Hopefully you can get the screen done via the insurance.
It doesn't take much moss and bird poo to make a Cav look sad and neglected.
My front nearside also has a slow puncture. So I saw my own cavalier in your description.
Happily it is now mostly moss and poo free.

[cavalier1990]

Good plan to have, at least you can get the obvious things sorted for MOT then take it along for pre mot to get any wee niggles sorted before the main event. Was your emissions still a bit of a problem or you got that all sorted? I think you said you were changing the cat or something didn't you?

Cheers

Andy

[Robsey]

I bought a type approved catalytic converter from BM in 2019.
It is still in the packaging nearly five years later.
The emissions were showing a failing cat, but the garaged pushed the car through.

Hopefully if I sort all the obvious stuff, it 'should' only fail on the jacking points.
Assuming I fit the cat and gear linkage before the test.

[3cav3]

For the last 3 tests my Cav has always failed the emissions on the first run, but after a rev up and letting the fans kick in its always then had a low reading on the second run.

[Robsey]

Due to time constraints, a lot of garages do the emissions tests when the car is still cold, rather than allowing the car to warm up fully.

They then tick the box to bypass the oil temperature check.